Artistic journey out of hell

Pay a visit to The Dukes this January for a number of events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.
Kurt Schwitters exhibitionKurt Schwitters exhibition
Kurt Schwitters exhibition

A spokesman for the centre said two related exhibitions in the gallery would also reflect this year’s theme of journeys.

They said: “This theme has been chosen to show how journeys were often experiences of persecution and terror for so many people who suffered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution and in the subsequent genocides.”

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From January 7-27 ‘Kurt Schwitters – his journey and life in the Lake District’ is an exhibition about an artist, poet, composer and author whose journey eventually led him from Germany to Cumbria.

Throughout this exhibition, there will be screenings of Living Through The Holocaust, about the Hungarian childhood of Lancaster academic and potter Stephen Breuer.

Schwitters left Germany for Norway in the early years of Nazi rule.

When he reached England, he was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien and eventually settled in the Lake District where he practised as an artist from 1945.

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He worked mainly in a barn at Elterwater until his death in 1948, the day after he had been granted British citizenship.

The exhibition will mostly feature prints from this last period as well as information and images from other times in Schwitters’ life including his internment.

In order to make a living, Schwitters had to paint portraits and landscapes while continuing to make the art for which he is internationally known.

Another special event at The Dukes to mark Holocaust Memorial Day is a screening of Orchestra of Exiles(12A) on January 29.

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This docu-drama tells the extraordinary true story of Polish violinist Bronislaw Hubermann, above, who rescued some of the world’s greatest musicians from Nazi Germany and founded what would become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

For more information on any event call The Dukes Box Office on 01524 598500 or visit www.dukes-lancaster.org